The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

DEPARTMENT of Environmental Planning and Protection officials are reviewing Bahamas Power & Light’s documents concerning a diesel spill at its north Andros power station last year.

DEPP Director Dr Rhianna Neely-Murphy said the assessment should be finished by the end of the week.

She could not say whether the leak has contaminated the water table in Nicholls Town and poses a threat to human health.

BPL did not report the leak to the public, and officials would not discuss the status of remediation efforts when contacted earlier this month, citing ongoing litigation.

Dr Neely-Murphy said this is not DEPP’s first assessment of the situation, though she could not recall the first visit.

“The department visited the site,” she said. “BPL started with its initial remediation activities, but we have now received the comprehensive report, and so we’ll be moving on to the next step now.”

Randy Butler, the president and a director of Daran Corporation Holdings, a company suing BPL over the leak, expressed outrage at how long it took officials to address the issue.

Mr Butler said the media’s coverage of the leak pushed officials to address the problem, calling this “sad” and “very bad optics”.

In an affidavit he filed in June, he alleged that he spoke to top DEPP officials about the matter last year, but got no response.

He said the oil spilled in January 2022.